Dubinsky powers Rangers past Lightning

Oct 4, 2008 - 10:22 PM
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (Ticker) -- Brandon Dubinsky scored a
power-play goal to snap a tie with 5:44 remaining in the third
period as the New York Rangers opened the regular season with a
2-1 triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Free-agent acquisition Markus Naslund also tallied and Henrik
Lundqvist made 20 saves for New York, which will look to
complete a two-game sweep when the teams meet again Sunday at
the O2 Arena as part of NHL Premiere 2008.

Martin St. Louis scored and goaltender Mike Smith finished with
39 saves for Tampa Bay, which finished the 2007-08 season with
an NHL-worst 31 wins.

With the Rangers on the power play late in the third period,
Dubinsky skated in from the right faceoff circle and wristed a
shot which sailed past a thoroughly screened Smith and just
inside the left goalpost for the game-winner.

"We played great and we deserved to win tonight," Dubinsky said.
"We're real happy with the way we played start to finish, and
happy that we got the result we wanted."

After spending more than a decade as a television analyst, Tampa
Bay coach Barry Melrose was quick to pinpoint why his return to
the bench was not a triumphant one.

"Seven penalties against a very good power play - you don't have
to be a math major to realize that's 14 minutes that some of
your best players aren't on the ice," said Melrose, who spent
three seasons as coach of the Los Angeles Kings from 1992-95.

"That's an extra 14 minutes of hard work for our young defense,
and they finally stuck one through - and it was just a matter of
time against a great power play like that."

The Rangers enjoyed a 41-21 advantage in shots, which is a
promising sign considering the team will be looking for offense
following the departure of future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr to
Avangard Omsk in Russia.

A five-time winner of the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading
scorer, Jagr led the Rangers with both 25 goals and 71 points
last season.

After the Rangers dominated the majority of the second period,
Naslund opened the scoring with 1:52 remaining in the session.

Scott Gomez skated into the offensive zone before lifting a pass
to Naslund in the right circle. The 35-year-old Swede quickly
unleashed a wrist shot which caromed of Smith's blocker and into
the net.

A five-time All-Star and longtime Vancouver Canucks captain,
Naslund had quite the debut after agreeing to a two-year deal
worth $8 million in the offseason.

"I didn't replace Jaromir I don't think anyone can," Naslund
said. "I'm just trying to find my game and playing to my
potential."

"Naslund is a world-class player," Gomez said. "He could have
had three or four goals tonight. Playing with him, and (captain
Chris) Drury, really makes my job easy."

St. Louis leveled the contest 3:57 into the third period after
skating into the zone and backhanding a shot which sailed past
Lundqvist and under the crossbar.

Credited with an assist was Vincent Lecavalier, who signed an
11-year contract extension in the offseason with the Lightning,
keeping him with the team through the 2019-20 season.

But that was all Tampa could muster, thanks to some solid saves
from Lundqvist and an offense which continually peppered Smith
with shots.

"They had some quality chances, a couple of breakaways there,
but Hank was solid, nice and calm back there," Gomez said of
Lundqvist. "Games like this where you outshoot a team like
that, it would be heartbreaking to lose, but Hank made the key
saves and it was a great team effort tonight."

"I like the fact that we stayed with them at the beginning and
then kind of took the game over in a sense," said Rangers head
coach Tom Renney, who is now 6-0 behind the bench in
regular-season openers in his career. "I liked the fact that we
kept generating shots and offense."

For his part, Melrose was content with the intensity, just not
the result.

"It's a very tough loss because we played so hard," he said.
"We did a lot of good things defensively. Our offensive players
had the chances."